[04/25/13 - 11:21 PM]...Is Named the Winner of "Project Runway" Season 11!Plus: tune in next Thursday for the "Project Runway" season 11 reunion special.

[via press release from Lifetime]

MICHELLE LESNIAK FRANKLIN NAMED THE WINNER
OF PROJECT RUNWAY SEASON 11

NEW YORK, NY - April 25, 2013 - After skillfully and relentlessly maneuvering through uncharted territories in the first-ever Teams Edition of Project Runway, Portland, Oregon-based designer Michelle Lesniak Franklin has been crowned the winner of the series' game-changing 11th season by judges Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia and Zac Posen, and finale guest judge, designer Michael Kors. This season kept designers on their toes through intense challenges that required them to impress numerous guest judges, including the legendary Bette Midler, country music sensation Miranda Lambert, fashion darling Emmy Rossum, Academy Award(R) winner Susan Sarandon and many others.

Season 11 began with 16 designers, but it was Franklin who came out on top and made it work, despite the intense drama on and off the runway. Franklin's relentless tenacity and undeniable talent led her to victory, despite often finding herself on the losing teams at the beginning of the season. During the season, Franklin also won the crucial challenge to design a garment to be sold at Lord & Taylor, through which her lux silk and leather dress sold out overnight in stores and online. Competing against friends and foes, Franklin defeated fellow designers Patricia Michaels and Stanley Hudson to win $100,000 from L'Oréal Paris to start her own line. She also wins a fashion spread in Marie Claire magazine, a 2013 Lexus GS 350, a $50,000 technology suite by HP and Intel to bring her creativity to life and run her business, and the opportunity to design and sell an exclusive collection at Lord & Taylor.

Franklin's model, Lisa Jackson, will also appear in an editorial feature in Marie Claire and receives $25,000 from L'Oréal Paris EverStyle.

ABOUT PROJECT RUNWAY

Hosted by supermodel and fashion maven Heidi Klum, the hit Emmy(R)-nominated series Project Runway provides budding designers with an opportunity to launch their careers in fashion, under the watchful eyes of mentor and co-host Tim Gunn and judges Nina Garcia and Zac Posen.

Project Runway is produced by The Weinstein Company, Bunim/Murray Productions and Full Picture Entertainment. Executive producers include Bob and Harvey Weinstein (Co-Chairmen of The Weinstein
Company), Meryl Poster and Barbara Schneeweiss of The Weinstein Company, Jonathan Murray, Sara Rea and Colleen Sands of Bunim/Murray Productions, Heidi Klum, and Jane Cha Cutler and Desiree Gruber of Full Picture Entertainment. Rob Sharenow, Gena McCarthy and David Hillman of Lifetime also executive produce.

ABOUT THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY

The Weinstein Company (TWC) is a multimedia production and distribution company launched in October 2005 by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the brothers who founded Miramax Films in 1979. TWC also encompasses Dimension Films, the genre label founded in 1993 by Bob Weinstein, which has released such popular franchises as Scream, Spy Kids and Scary Movie. TWC also boasts an active television production division led by former Miramax Films Co-President of Production Meryl Poster. The studio is behind such hit original television series as the Emmy(R) nominated and Peabody Award-winning competition series Project Runway and its spin-off series Project Runway All Stars and Project Accessory; the VH1 reality series Mob Wives and its spin-off series Big Ang and Mob Wives Chicago; Welcome To Myrtle Manor on TLC; and the Peabody Award-winning scripted HBO comedy/crime series The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. TWC's television department is currently in production on the upcoming A&E series Rodeo Queens and the Lifetime reality competition show Supermarket Superstar, hosted by Stacy Keibler. Among the division's projects in development are an untitled private eye procedural for FX, the historical action-adventure epic Marco Polo developed by STARZ, and The Nanny Diaries, which was developed by ABC with a pilot by Amy Sherman Palladino.

ABOUT BUNIM/MURRAY PRODUCTIONS

Bunim/Murray Productions is the leading producer of innovative entertainment content. The Emmy Award-winning company is widely credited with creating the reality television genre with its hit series The Real World (28 seasons for MTV). BMP continued to innovate with the first reality game show, Road Rules (MTV), in 1995; the first reality sitcom, The Simple Life (E!), in 2003; and the first reality soap opera, Starting Over, in 2003. Bunim/Murray's current programming includes Bad Girls Club, Bad Girls All Star Battle, Love Games and Best Ink (Oxygen), Keeping up with the Kardashians and Kourtney and Kim Take Miami (E!), The Real World and The Challenge (MTV), and Project Runway and Project Runway All Stars (Lifetime). Bunim/Murray Productions has also produced films, including Valentine Road (HBO), Pedro (MTV) and the Emmy Award-winning Autism: The Musical (HBO). Bunim/Murray Productions has launched additional entities including BMP Films, BMP Digital and BMP Latin. Based in Van Nuys, CA, Bunim/Murray Productions was founded in 1987 by Jonathan Murray and the late Mary-Ellis Bunim, who were inducted into the Television Academy of Arts & Science's Hall of Fame in 2012. The company joined Banijay Group in 2010.

ABOUT LIFETIME

Lifetime is committed to offering the highest quality entertainment and information programming, and advocating a wide range of issues affecting women and their families. In 2012, as a result of its aggressive triple threat programming strategy doubling its amount of original programming spanning scripted dramas, reality series and movies, Lifetime posted its strongest year-on-year growth among the key demographics in 10+ years, while also reaching its youngest median age in 16 years. Lifetime Television(R), LMN(R), Lifetime Real Women(R) and Lifetime Digital(TM) are part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, LLC, a subsidiary of A+E Networks. A+E Networks is a joint venture of the Disney-ABC Television Group and Hearst Corporation. www.mylifetime.com.